Multiple-wheel trench-machine.



F. E. BAGER.

MULTIPLE WHEEL TRENCH MACHINE.

APPLICATION man DE-c.31.191s.

1,246,524. 7 Patented N0v.13,1917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

F. E. BAGER'.- MULTIPLE WHEEL TRENCH MACHPINE.

APPLICATION FILED IJEC.31,19|5.

L'atenbed NOV. 13, 1917vt 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Zjf

F. E. BAGER.

MULTIPLE WHEEL TRENCH MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 050.31. I9I5.

1 ,246,524. Patented Nov. 13, 14917.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3. 1Q 3 F. Lansing MULTIPLEVWFIEE]h TRENCH'MACHINE.

APPLICATIO FILED D'EC.3|. 1915.

Batented Nov. 13,l 191?.

UNITED sTATEs PATENToEEIcE.

FREDERIC E. BAGER, 0F KENOSHA, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO FREDERICK C.AUSTIN,

0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MULTIPLE-WHEEL Tannen-MACHINE.

speeifwaaon of Letters Patent. Patented Nov, 13, 1917,

Application filed December 3 1, 1915. Serial No. 69,548.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, FREDERIC E. BAGER, a

citizen of the United States of America, and

resident of Kenosha, Kenosha county, Wisconsin, have invented a certainnew and use ful Improvement in Multiple-Wheel Trench- Machines, of whichthe following is a speci` fication.

My invention relates to -machines for cutting trenches or ditches, andparticularly to machines of this kind in which the excavating apparatuscomprises a ring or spokeless wheel upon the periphery of which aremounted the excavating buckets to cut the trench or ditch while theentire machine is moving slowly forward. r

Broadly considered, my invention contemplates a machine of this kind inwhich a plurality of such wheels are arranged to operate side by side,whereby two or more parallel trenches orditches are made by the samemachine, thus making it possible for one machine to cut several trenchesor ditches at the same time.

It is also an object of my invention to provide certain details andfeatures of construction and combinations tendin to increase the generaleliiciency and des1rability of a multiple-wheel excavator of .thisparticular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, my .invention consists inmatters hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a multiplewheel excavator embodying the principles of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan ofthe said machine.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section on line 3 3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical section on line L1`4 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section on line 5 5 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a detail section of one of the telescoping joints of thetransmission connections by which the rotary excavating wheels aredriven.

Fig. 7 is a section on line 7-"1'v in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the lower portion ofone of the rotary excavator wheels.

As thus illustrated, my invention comprises an excavator frame or body Amounted on front wheels B and rear caterpillars C, the latter being ofany suitable, known or lmproved construction. At the rear end of thesaid body, vlded, o'f any suitable construction, having upper and lowerbearin s 1 and 2 which are arranged in vertical alinement at oppositesides of the machine, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4. Vertical screws Dare supported for rotation in these bearings, by means of bevel gearingd arranged in any suitable manner, and each screw is provided withathreaded sleeve 3 which travels up and down when the screw is rotatedone way, or the other. rThese sleeves 3 are provided with pivots E, ofany suitable character, for the rear ends of the parallel beams F,whereby the latter may swing up' and down about a horizontal axis. Asshow-n, three excavator wheels are employed, and, consequently, twoparallel beams G are arranged at one side of the central beams F, andtwo parallel beams H are disposed at the other side of the saidcentrally located beams, all of said beams being rigidly connectedtogether by transverse beams I, J and- K, thereby providing arectangular frame i with ,spaces therein for the excavator wheels. Thering or spokeless wheel L is disposed between the beams F, and a similarwheel M is disposed between the beams G, while a third wheel N isdisposed between the beams H, the three wheels being suitably spacedapart. Each of these wheels is. provided with an inner ring having cogteeth 4, and a transverse shaft 5 is provided with pinions 6 for enanupright frame a is progaging said teeth, .these pinions being splined onsaid shaft, whereby they can be adjusted toward and away from eachother. The said shaft 5 is supported by suitable bearings on the framecomposed of the beams F, G and H, and rollers 7 (these rollers 'areshown in Fig. 1, but are omitted in Fig. 3 for convenience ofillustration) are also suitably supported on this frame, in the usualand well known manner, for the purpose of engaging the teeth 4 andthereby supporting the three wheels for. rotation. These wheels areprovided with buckets 8, of any suitable character, and also withstationary cleaners 9, 'of any suitable form, whereby the excavated dirt1s discharged at the top of -each wheel onto inclined plates or chutesor guards 11 (these shields are shown in Fig. 3, but are omitted in Fig.1 for convenience of illustration) are disposed at opposite sides ofeach wheel, being suitably supported upon the frame which supports thewheels, whereby the loose dirt discharged by the buckets is held againstfalling into the trenches or ditches, the said guards being preferablyinclined to insure sloping sides for the spoil banks thus formed aboveground along the sides of each trench or ditch.

vFor operating the shaft 5, any suitable power or transmittingconnection can be employed. For example, this shaft can be provided withbevel pinions 12 which engage similar pinions 13 on the lower ends oftelescoping shafts 0, the latter being driven at their upper ends bybevel gearing P of any suitable character. The lower ends of theseshafts 0 are supported by brackets 14 on the shaft 5, and in a similarmanner at their upper ends, it being observed that the gearing Pinvolves a horizontal shaft p, and it being understood that the shafts 0are thus mounted to swing up and down upon the said transverse shaft attheir upper ends. When the three wheels and their supporting frame arethus moved up and down about the axis E, the shafts 0 have a telescopingaction, each shaft having a telescoping joint o of the kind shown inFigs. 6 and 7, or otany other suitable character, as will be readilyunderstood. 'Io raise and lower the wheels and their frame, cables Q,are provided and arranged to travel over sheaves 15 and 16, mountedrespectively upon the frame c and the supporting frame of the wheels.These raising and lowering cables Q are then operated in any suitable orwell known manner to swing the wheels and their frame up and down aboutthe axis E, in a manner that will be readily understood. When necessary,however, the wheels and their frame can `be raised and lowered bodily bythe rotation of the screws D, and by accompanying this operation by theproper adjustment of the cables Q, thereby raising and lowering thewheels in a man- .ner to keep the supporting frame thereof exactlylevel, if such is desired.

' The wheels M and N can be 4moved outward from the positions shown inthe drawings, should it be desired to construct the three trenches orditchesY a greater distance apart. For this purpose, the transversebeams I, J and K may be provided with bolt holes for permittingadjustment thereon of the end portions of the beams G and H in a mannerthat will be readily understood. For example, and as shown in Fig. 5,the

,beam I may be provided with holes I to receive the bolts 17 by whichthe beams I-I are held in place thereon. The other transverse beams mayhave similar bolts and nee-asse holes, and thus the wheels M and N canbe moved farther away from the center wheel L, it being remembered thatthe pinions/ 6 l slide in splines enU the shaft 5, whereby thisyrelative adjustment of the wheels does not interfere with the properworking of the transmission conneetionsby which they are driven.

It will be understood that the engine R may be of any suitable ordesired character and is connected in any suitable manner `with thetraction devices C, with the shaft p, with the bevel gearing d, and alsowith the shaft S by which the hoisting cables Q are operated, wherebyall of the various instrumentalities are operated by power. It will beunderstood, of course, that the various transmission connections mayinclude, wherever necessary, suitable clutches for controlling thetransmission of power in the desired manner.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that by my invention I provide amachine capable of cutting a plurality of trenches or ditches at the'same time, whereby a single 'forward movement of the machine across aield will produce two or more ditches of the required character. In thisway, a separate operation of the machine is not required for each ditchor trench, and, consequently, much time and work are saved inconstructing the trenches, as the number of men required to handle amachine of this kind is no is dumped at the sides of the wheels and'`automatically shaped into spoil banks having sloping sides, whereby theresulting ditches or trenches extend above the level of the-ground forabout half their depth, or for any other desired distance. Obviously, amachine which will thus cut a plurality of trenches and at the same timeautomatically convert the excavated dirt into neat and well formed spoilbanks between the trenches, as well as at the outer sides of theoutermost ditches, can be employed for various purposes where paralleltrenches or ditches are required, and I do not limit myself to anyparticular use, nor to the exact construction shown and described.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. An excavator for making ditches, comprising apparatus forsimultaneously cutting a plurality of ditches which are spaced apart, atraveling body, means to discharge `the excavated dirt on the groundbehind the ting a plurality of ditches which are spaced apart, atraveling body, and instrumentalities on said body to drive saidapparatus during the forward movement of the excavator, said apparatushaving means to form spoil banks with smooth inclined sides between theditches and at the outermost sides thereof.

3. The structure specified in claim 1, said apparatus comprising aplurality of annular members spaced apart to accommodate said meansbetween them and having a common horizontal axis of rotation, buckets onthe periphery of said members, and a frame having means to support saidmembers in position for operation in the ground.

4. An excavator for making ditches, comprising apparatus forsimultaneously cutting a plurality of ditches, which are spaced apart, atraveling body, and instrumentalities on said body to drive saidapparatus during the forward movement of the excavator, said apparatushaving means to form spoil banks with smooth inclined sides between theditches and at the outermost sides thereof, said apparatus comprising aplurality of annular members spaced apart to accommodate both of saidmeans between them and having a common horizontal axis of rotation,buckets on the periphery of said members, and a frame having means tosupport said members in position for operation in the ground.

5. An excavator for making ditches, comprising apparatus forsimultaneously cutting a plurality of ditches which are spaced apart, atraveling body, and instrumentalities on said body to drive saidapparatus during the forward movement of the excavator, said apparatuscomprising a rotary cutting wheel and two similar wheels at oppositesides thereof, the middle wheel being disposed centrally of said body,and the two outer wheels being adjustable to change the distance betweenthe three wheels.

6. An excavator for making ditches, comprising apparatus forsimultaneously cutting a plurality of ditches, which are spaced apart, atraveling body, and instrumentalities on said body to drive saidapparatus during the forward movement of the excavator, said apparatushaving means to form spoil banks between the ditches and at theoutermost sides thereof, and said apparatus comprising a rotary cuttingwheel and two similar wheels at opposite sides thereof, the middle wheelbeing disposed centrally of said body, and the two outer wheels beingadjustable to change the distance between the three wheels.

7. An excavator for making ditches, comprising apparatus forsimultaneously cutting a plurality of ditches which are spaced apart, atraveling body, instrumentalities on I said body to drive said apparatusduring the said body to drive said apparatus during the forward movementof the excavator, vertically disposed screws at the rear end of spldbody, threaded members on said screws, bearings for said screws abovesaid members, means on said members to provide pivot bearings for saidapparatus, bearings below said members for the lower ends of saidscrews, means lcomprising bevel-gearing for' rotating said screws toraise and lower said members and bearings, and devices to swing sa1dapparatus up and down on sa1d bearings.

9. Anexcavator for making ditches, comprising apparatus forsimultaneously cutting a plurality of ditches which are spaced apart, atraveling'body, and instrumentalities on said body to drive saidapparatus during the forward movement of the excavator, including shaftsextending downward and rearward to said apparatus, and means to swingsaid apparatus up and down, said shafts having telescoping joints topermit said swinging movement.

10. An excavator for making ditches, comprising apparatus forsimultaneously cuttin a plurality of ditches which are spacedg apart, atraveling body, and instrumentalities on said body to drive saidapparatus during the forward movement of the excavator, including shaftsextending downward and rearward to said apparatus, said apparatus havingmeans to form spoil banks between the ditches and at the outermost sidesthereof, and means to swing said apparatus up and down; said shaftshaving telescopingjoints to permit said swinging movement. l

11. The structure specified in claim l, said apparatus including aplurality of cutting wheels which are uniformly spaced apart andarranged to rotate about a common axis, a drive shaft extending throughsaid wheels eccentrically thereof, said shaft being disposed in front ofsaid means and transversely of the ditches, and pinions on said shaft toengage said wheels.

12. An excavator for making ditches, com` prising apparatus forsimultaneously cutting a plurality of ditches which are spaced apart, atraveling body, and instrumentalities on said body to drive saidapparatus n during the forward movement of the excavator, said apparatushaving means to form spoil banks with smooth inclined sides between theditches and at the outermost sides thereof, and said apparatus includinga plurality of cutting wheels arranged to rotate .about a common axis, adrive shaft extending through said wheels eccentrically thereof, pinionson said shaft to engage said wheels Yand means engaging said shaft at aplurality or' points therein to rotate the shaft and pinions.

13. An excavator for making ditches, comprising a traveling body, aframe having pivot bearings at the rear end of said body, excavatingmeans on said frame, mechanism to raise and lower and hold said pivotbearings against up-and-down movement, devices to swing said frame upand down on said bearings, connections to operate said apparatus andwinding drum-devices to raise and lower the rear end of said frame inany position of said bearings, said mechanism including verticallydisposed screws and threaded sleeves on said screws to sup-port saidpivot bearings, and bearings to supportA the lower ends of said screws.

14. An excavator for making ditches, com-4 vated dirt from saiddigging-means onto the ground between the ditches, and means to preventsaid dirt from falling back into the ditches.

Signed my me at Chicago, Illinois, this 11th day of December, 1915.

. FREDERIC E. BAGER.

